274 
our country, having been discovered 
and named by the great explorer, 
La Salle, who traversed its swift cur- 
rent as far as South Bend, Ind., and 
his second in command penetrating as 
far as Mendon, in Michigan. At its 
mouth La Salle established a fort called 
St. Joseph, from which the present 
city and the river take their names. 
The plan we decided upon was to 
send our boat and baggage to Union 
City, and from there continue down 
stream camping wherever fancy led us, 
staying in each camp as long as we felt 
inclined. 
The. mormine “of ‘the ast. of July 
saw our preparations complete. The 
Drummer’s manicure set, scented toilet 
soap, bottles of perfume, rose and lav- 
ender water, etc., carefully packed 
where they were least likely to receive 
damage, we boarded the 1o o'clock 
train south, gazing with indifference 
at the looks of content our friends 
wore at having got rid of us. 
At Three Rivers we changed cars 
for the northeast, giving the baggage 
man a tip to look after a few parcels of 
unchecked baggage, for which he kindly 
allowed us space in his car. We had 
been on the train but a short time, 
when I noticed looks of uneasiness 
upon my friend’s face. 
‘¢ Drummer, what is it?” I asked. 
‘¢T was slightly wondering when this 
train stopped for dinner,” he replied. 
“This is an accommodation train 
and does not stop.”’ 
The look of consternation that set- 
tled over Drummer’s face caused me 
to reach for my creel, and from its 
depths I drew forth a good-sized paper 
box well supplied with solid comforts. 
‘¢Now, Drummer,” I said, ‘‘I sup- 
pose you have that little undersized 
half-grown appetite with you?” 
The American Angler 
‘‘T have,” he cheerfully replied. 
‘‘Then help yourself,” and soon the 
noise of our train was drowned by 
the working of his jaws, as he ex- 
peditiously took charge of his share of 
the lunch. 
We came to our destination some- 
what behind time, and leaving Drum- 
mer to look after the baggage and 
boat, I started for the town to lay in 
our supplies for the trip. These se- 
cured and carted to the river bank, I 
was soon joined by Drummer with our 
luggage and the boat. We at once set 
to work loading up, and in a few min- 
utes had everything in place with room 
in the front for my friend to stand and 
cast his flies. 
Carefully setting up his No. 8 Bristol 
rod, and mounting his leader with a 
coachman and grizzly-king, we pushed 
from shore, and once fairly afloat had 
difficulty in repressing one or two hilar- 
ious yells, for we were full of school- 
boy spirit, and the world once more 
looked young. In fact, I think I did 
let out a hurrah that startled Drummer 
so that he almost fell overboard; but, 
being still inside the corporation and 
not out of reach of the marshal, I 
moderated my spirits for the time. 
To any one that loves fly casting, it 
would do good to see Drummer cast a 
fly. He is tall, has long arms, and the 
way he lays out a line renders every 
fish within eighty rods very unsafe. 
With us, this season is phenomenal 
for drouth, and never in the memory 
of old settlers has the river been so 
low. The stream as it leaves Union 
City is shallow and swift, and Drummer 
declares that the dust flew in places. I 
think he exaggerated a little, but we 
ground the bottom all too frequently, 
and had to step out and ease the boat 
of our weight on occasions. How- 
